Jan
22

Somali Poetry

Andrzejewski (1922-1994) spent an academic career studying Somalia. He first went to Somalia in 1950. This book, Somali Poetry, was published in 1993. It is a compilation of translated poems, with a little commentary on the text and brief notes about the poets. The poems themselves largely focus on camels, women and war (he writes at the outset of the book due to gendered spaces he was only able to collect poems from male poets). I found this book when doing some work on Amharic proverbs. This is a unique book, but one with quite a specialist audience. 

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Oct
24

Humanitarian Work in Ethiopia's Somali Region

Lauren Carruth provides a useful introduction to Ethiopia's Somali region, to the practices of global health, to 'humanitarianism', and to anthropology / ethnography with her 2021 publication: Love and Liberation: Humanitarian Work in Ethiopia's Somali Region (Cornell University Press). The book helpfully deconstructs international / Euro-Western conceptualizations of humanitarianism and re-orients that within the Somali context (linguistic, socio-cultural, political, historical, religious). The book is accessible and likely will find a home in undergraduate many courses. Additionally helpful for readers is the extensive use of narratives and personal stories, which makes the book very readable. Far too little research focuses on Ethiopia's Somali region, and this is a welcome addition.

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